Our view: Transportation must become state priority

Sunday

AT ISSUE: Barnes Avenue bridge closing just a hint of what lurks in the shadows

The case of the Barnes Avenue bridge in West Utica — closed permanently Friday due to safety concerns — is a tragedy for those who depended on it to get to an area inaccessible by other means.

But like the people who built a big house they can no longer afford to heat, this is just the beginning of what state officials say is a severe crisis affecting New York state’s worn out transportation infrastructure.

A blueprint for the future addressing this issue and what to do about it must become a priority in Albany in 2011. Without such a plan, the nightmare of Barnes Avenue will be magnified many times across the state.
The decision to close the Barnes Avenue bridge, which spans the CSX railroad line, was made after a November inspection by the state Department of Transportation found it to be structurally deficient. On a safety scale of 1 to 7, with 1 being the worst, the bridge was ranked below 3, with four of its 12 columns having structural concerns. State officials said there are indications that bridge failure is likely within the next year.

Another bridge — on Stoney Creek Road over the Erie Canal in the town of Verona — also was closed Friday, also due to serious structural deterioration. DOT officials expect there will be more in the future.
A public meeting Nov. 18 on the Barnes Avenue bridge drew about 150 people to Utica City Hall, including several business owners whose livelihoods are now in limbo. They no longer can access their property. Members of the Paris Road Gun Club, visitors to the Utica Marsh and others who need access to that area also are left in the lurch.

That in itself is devastating to the people affected. Of more widespread concern, however, is the overall condition of our statewide transportation infrastructure.

In a Nov. 17 report to Gov. David Paterson, Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch said that New York state “lacks the revenue necessary to maintain its transportation system in the state of good repair.” What’s more, he added, it “has no credible strategy for meeting future needs.”

That’s frightening, and so is this: Michael Shamma, the Department of Transportation director of Region 2, said he has $20 million for maintenance in 2011, and $100 million worth of work that should be done. Region 2 covers six counties, including Oneida and Herkimer.

Utica has seen what devastating effects the closing of one tiny bridge has had on the lives of real people. Multiply that by the millions of people who depend on 113,000 miles of roads and 17,400 bridges throughout the state every day. Ravitch says the state DOT estimates that more than $175 billion will be necessary statewide between now and 2030 for maintenance of the system. That doesn’t include New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority.

What’s more, Ravitch says, “New York state faces a wave of deteriorating bridges in the coming years. Maintenance alone will consume an ever-growing percentage of resources, even apart from new capacity-expanding projects.”

Frank Gerace, former DOT Region 2 director and now a consulting engineer for the city who conducted the Nov. 18 meeting said it simply: If you don’t take care of things, they’ll fall apart. Let a bridge go three years without any attention, and there will be structural deterioration.

There’s little guesswork who will pay for all this. Transportation money comes from tolls, taxes, and occasionally, bonds. That’s all taxpayer money, and few would argue, a necessary investment.

But the more immediate problem is getting state leaders in Albany — that most certainly includes Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature — to embrace recommendations in the Ravitch report and devise a realistic blueprint for 2011-12. Failing that, Ravitch warns, we “can expect the deterioration in conditions to accelerate, resulting in increased safety risks, traffic delays and associated costs.”

In addition, we strongly encourage our local representatives in Albany to read the Ravitch report if they haven’t already done so, and lead efforts to make New York’s transportation program a priority in the coming year and beyond. Without a solid strategy, we will, as Ravitch says, surrender “any plausible chance for a prosperous future for New York.”

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